program. The second, ``Mama`s Boy,`` scheduled to air on Sept. 19, stars Bruce Weitz in a role that duplicates the spirit, if not the name, of maternally fixated Mick Belker.

``I wanted to do something other than `Hill Street,` `` said Weitz, who will costar in the NBC sitcom with Nancy Walker. As Belker, Weitz was constantly plagued by his relationship with ``Ma,`` a never-seen figure who usually called as he was interrogating some ``dog-breathed hairball`` crime suspect.

``I have always wanted to explore this relationship on camera,`` said Weitz, who now plays a Jimmy Breslin-style newspaper columnist whose widowed mom (Walker) moves into his Manhattan apartment. ``I don`t think there`s been an older son-mother relationship on television before.``

Franz and Peter Jurasik of NBC`s ``Beverly Hills Buntz`` remain in a

``Hill Street`` mode.

Not only have they re-created their roles as gumshoe Norman Buntz and his faithful Sid the Snitch, but they remain in the employment of veteran ``Hill Street`` writer-producers David Milch and Jeffrey Lewis. Of all the rich characters on ``Hill Street Blues,`` Milch and Lewis chose Buntz and Sid as their sole spinoffs.

The premise is that Buntz has left the Hill to pursue a career as a private eye in L.A. Sidney Thurston, his loyal, if suspiciously

entrepreneurial sidekick, follows.

Both ``Beverly Hills Buntz`` and ``Mama`s Boy`` are among NBC`s so-called ``designated hitter`` programs, which means they will air for the first half of the season on a monthly basis. NBC programming chief Brandon Tartikoff said that if both shows enjoy success on a monthly basis, they will be incorporated into the weekly schedule by midseason.